Circuit breaker trip mechanism



Feb. 27, 1951 D. l. BOHN CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM l5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 8, 1943 lllllllllll M 7 V/ M Y B Feb. 27, 1951 D. l. BOHN CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM 13 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 8, 1943 INVEN TOR.

DOA ALB BOH/V BY Feb. 27, 1951 D. 1. BOHN 2,543,398

CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM Filed Dec. 8, 1945 13Sheecs-Sheet s IN VEN TOR.

DONALD usoH/v Feb. 27, 1951 D. l. BOHN 2,543,398

CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM Filed Dec. 8, 1943 13 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN VEN TOR.

Do/VALD BOH/V Feb. 27, 1951 D. 1. BOHN 2,543,398

CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM Filed Dec. 8, 1943 15 Sheets$heet 5 I N V EN TOR.

DONALD BOHA/ LEM/W Feb. 27, 1951 2,543,398

D. I. BOHN CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM Filed Dec. a, 1943 13 Sheets-Sheet 6 IN VEN TOR.

DONALD L BOHN Feb. 27, 1951 7 D. l. BOHN- 2,543,398

CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM Filed Dec. 8, 1943 15 Sheets-Sheet 8 Feb. 27, 1951 D. l. BOHN 2,543,398

CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM Filed Dec. 8, 1943 13 Sheets-Sheet 9 IN VEN TOR.

DONALD l BOl-l/V Feb. 27, 1951 D. l. BOHN 2,543,398

Filed Dec. 8, 1943 l3 Sheets-Sheet 10 IN VEN TOR.

DONALD B0H/V W Feb. 27, 1951 D. l. BOHN 2,543,393

CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM Filed Dec. 8, 1943 13 Sheets-Sheet ll Ill SODOLBS- I A t Mgr. 15' YINVENTOR.

JU/VALD l-BO/l/V BY W- "L 5000 as.

Feb. 27, 1951 D. l. BOHN 2,543,398

CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM Filed Dec. 8, 1943 15 Sheets-Sheet 12 IN VEN TOR. DONALD I BO/l/V B Y A WW 4 13 Sheets-Sheet 13 Feb. 27, 1951 D. 1. BOHN CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM Filed Dec. 8, 1943 Fig. 17

Patented Feb. 27, 1 951 CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIP MECHANISM Donald I. Bohn, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to I. T. E.

Circuit Breaker Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 8, 1943, Serial No. 513,418

6 Claims.

My invention relates to a new and improved circuit breaker and more particularly to a novel construction for securing high speed circuit interruption.

In many systems such as the direct current or anode circuits of rectifiers, the high rate of current rise makes speed of circuit interruption important. A reduction of even a small fraction of the time heretofore consumed for circuit interruption will substantially reduce the current amplitude which must be interrupted and Will correspondingly reduce the resulting arc and therefore the problem of arc extinguishing.

In the design of a circuit breaker, a compromisc must be effected between the weight of metal which enables the circuit breaker to withstand large arcing currents and lightness which insures faster tripping requiring less material for the resulting lesser arc.

In cases where the rate of current rise on short circuit is particularly steep it has been found that better operating characteristics are secured by designing the circuit breaker for faster opening. Such an arrangement is shown in my Patent No. 2,412,247.

In the construction shown in that case, the elimination of the use of a latch for holding the circuit breaker contacts closed against the normal opening force of a spring is shown.

Where latches are employed, tripping operation requires the tripping solenoid armature to rise and engage the latch. The latch is in frictional engagement with the spring pressed circuit breaker movable contact arm. The armature of the solenoid must overcome this friction in moving the latch out of engagement with the movable arm in order to permit tripping operation to begin. In order to effect movement of the latch against its friction, a relatively heavy armature operated by a comparatively large magnet is required.

Before the circuit breaker movable contact actually starts to open in such a system, the relatively heavy armature must move until it engages the latch and must then move the latch against friction until it disengages the movable arm. Only then does the spring begin to open the circuit breaker.

In Patent No. 2,412,247 referred to above, the latch with its attendant delays is eliminated, the construction shown being such that upon deenergization of the tripping magnet, as a result of circuit conditions, the spring is immediately free to trip the breaker contacts. I This was efiected by having the pull on the armature of the holding magnet exerted by means of a cable connected directly between the armature and the movable contact so that the armature took the full force of the opening spring bias on the movable contact.

In practice, it was found that this construction considerably decreased the tripping time of the breaker. However, as will be apparent, the holding magnet must have a pull equal to the pull of the spring. Therefore, once the magnet was designed, the spring was restricted to one having the same pull, or to state this conversely, the spring pull having been determined, the holding magnet had to be designed to have as great a pull.

In accordance with the present invention, I have constructed a holding magnet circuit breaker in which by the provision of a clutch construction between the spring and the contacts, placed under control of the holding magnet, I can secure a ratio of pull of more than 12 to 1 between the spring and holding magnet. Thus a pull of the order of 420 pounds by the magnet and by the spring elements which hold the magnet in position can withhold a spring pull of 5000 pounds from tripping the breaker until the holding magnet is de-energized. This ratio enables the use of greater spring pull and lighter magnet structure than in the abovereferred application, thus further decreasing the opening time of the circuit breaker.

My invention contemplates primarily a connection between the armature of the holding magnet and the movable contact where the armature serves to maintain a detent or engaging member in holding position with respect to the contact or an extension thereof, and where the detent member may be held in such holding position to counteract the 5000 pound force of the opening spring even though only 340 pounds of holding force hold the detent member in place.

Should a simpe detent member thus be used, the necessity for providing additional means for moving it out of the way in the event of a backfire or reverse current condition would tend also to slow up the opening operation of the circuit breaker.

Hence, my invention contemplates that the detent member itself be so arranged that on decrease of the holding force of the magnet the detent will automatically be ineffective to retain the movable contact in closed circuit position.

For this purpose, rather than using a simple detent member, my invention contemplates the utilization of a clutch mechanism between the 3 armature of the holding magnet and the movable contact.

This clutch mechanism comprises essentially a floating pin held between matching detents in an extension of the movable contact and a pivotally mounted arm connected by a link to the armature, the said link extending normally to the pivotally mounted arm. The holding force of the armature will hold the pivotaliy mounted arm down on the pin and press the pin between the detent of the pivotally mounted arm and the detent in the movable contact extension.

However, since the pin is round, and is only tangentially in engagement with either detent, on the occurrence of a backfire or reverse current condition where the force holding the pivotally mounted arm down is reduced, the 5000 pound opening bias on the movable contact becomes effective to cause the movable contact extension to move outwardly rolling the pin out of its detent and raising the pivotally mounted arm.

Thus, while a 400 pound holding force is sufiicient to maintain the detents of the pivotally mounted arm and the contact extension in complementary engagement with the pin despite the pull of 5060 pounds on the contact extension; nevertheless, as the holding force of the magnet drops, a critical point is quickly reached wherein the pin may roll out of the detents, raising the pivotally mounted arm.

We have found that by sloping the side of the detent in the pivotally mounted arm against which the pin bears at an outward angle of the order of one degree from the vertical, snagging, owing to almost imperceptible wear, is prevented and the contacts will open immediately every time without interfering with the holding operation.

My invention also contemplates the incorporation of an overcurrent trip means with the holding magnet and armature structure, above set forth, so that the circuit breaker will be effective to trip the circuit open on the occurrence of overcurrent as well as of backfire conditions.

Since the members which thus connect the armature of the holding magnet and the movable contact are thus preferably rigid members, which themselves are interconnected by the clutch mechanism above described, the reengagement operation of the clutch must be so arranged that such reengagement can occur without interfering with the rigidity and strength of the members.

For this purpose, another characteristic of our invention resides in mounting the clutch mechanism, and especially the pivotally mounted arm thereof, in a movable housing which also contains and positions the holding magnet and armature; and this entire housing is moved by appropriate toggle mechanisms in one direction, so that the clutch mechanism may be rte-engaged after tripping, and in the opposite direction to close the circuit breaker.

Accordingly, an object or" my invention is to provide a novel high speed circuit breaker.

Still another object or" my invention is to provide a latch-free clutch-contro1led circuit breaker.

A further object of my invention is to provide a latch-free circuit breaker in which a holding magnet pull can be multiplied 12 times in the spring pull for opening the circuit breaker contacts.

Another object of my invention is to provide a holding magnet circuit breaker having a predetermined leverage.

There are other objects of my invention which together with the foregoing will appear in the specification and drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away, of my novel circuit breaker showing the elements thereof in the closed circuit position.

Figure 2 is a front elevation, partly broken away and partly in cross section, of the circuit breaker of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a side view, partly in cross section, of the clutch and magnet mounting and operating mechanism of the circuit breaker of bigure 1.

Figure 4 is a top view of the magnet and clutch housing taken from line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 4a is a top view of the magnet and armature assembly taken from line 4ala of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a side View of the magnet of the operating mechanism of Figure 3 and is taken from line 55 of Figure 4a.

Figure 5a is a fragmentary view of a portion of the manual trip mechanism indicated in the lower dotted line portion of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a view corresponding to that of Figure 3 showing the members, however, in the open circuit position with the clutch fully reset.

Figure 7 is a view in perspective of the clutch elements.

Figure 8 is a schematic view showing the closed circuit position of the clutch and operating mem bers and corresponds to Figure 3.

Figure 9 is a schematic view showing the initial tripping operation when the clutch is released.

Figure 10 is a schematic view showing the clutch and operating parts moved to the full open position.

Figure 11 is a schematic view showing the clutch and operating parts in the full open position of Figure 6 with all of the elements reset and ready to be closed.

Figure 12 is a view corresponding to that of Figure 8 showing the relationship among the various forces applied to the clutch mechanism.

Figure 13 is a view in perspective of the housing for the holding magnet, the clutch and associated parts.

Figures 14 and 15 are greatly enlarged schematic views of a portion of Figure 12.

Figure 16 is a view partly in cross-section showing a novel modified selective tripping device for use with my invention.

Figure 17 is a view partly in cross-section taken on line Illl of Figure 16 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 18 is a view partly in cross-section taken on line l8l8 of Figure 16 looking in the direction of the arrows.

The fundamental novel construction of my circuit breaker is shown in Figures 8 to 11.

Here we have shown schematically fixed movable and arcing contacts 26 and 35 engaged respectively by the movable contacts 32 and 35 carried on the pivoted arm 34. Arm 34 is secured at 'H to the spring operated arm H0, one end of which is secured to a spring [88 tending to move arm I10 to the right to effect disengagement of the contacts.

The other end of arm I10 is secured through extension I5 to the member 18 having a notch 82 in which there is seated a roller 83. The roller 83 also seats in a notch 86 of a pivoted arm 84. It will be obvious that so long as the roller B3 is seated in the two complementary notches 82 and 86, it acts as a stop to prevent the spring from effecting disengagement of the contacts.

5. The spring I80 acting through arms I70, I and I8 urges the left hand side of notch 82 against the roller 83, tending to move the roller to the right until it engages the right hand wall of the notch 86. This is the condition obtained in Figure 8.

The right hand edge of notch 86 engages the roller 83 at a point which is slightly above the horizontal diameter of the roller 83. Thus the force of the spring I80 may be regarded as made up of two components, the larger component exerting a force against the roller 83 pressing it against the right wall of notch 86, of pivoted arm 84. The other component tends to rotate the roller 83. very small by bringing the plane of the line -of contact of notch 82 to Spring I80 close to the center of the roller 83.

In order to overcome this rotative force and to hold the roller 83 in the notch where it acts as a stop, the holding magnet I00 through its armature I 0| and link I02 engages the pivoted arm 84. The hold-down springs I09, hereinafter described, which engage the magnet, then exert a downward pull on the magnet and hence on the pivoted arm 84. This downward force need only be just sufficient to overcome the small rotative component of the spring I80. Accordingly, a considerable force multiplication between the magnet pull and spring force may be secured which in practice has been made more than 1 to 12; i. e., a spring force of 5000 lbs. tending to pull the contacts open is opposed by a downward pull of 340 lbs.

This structure, as above pointed out, requires the exact alignment of the notches with a specific line along the roller. Therefore link I02 must be so arranged as not to interfere with this alignment. This is accomplished by floatingly supporting the magnet in the manner hereinafter described and by biasing the magnet downwardly by springs which exert a force on the magnet away from the armature with a pull equal to or slightly less than the magnet pull on the armature, i. e., 340 lbs. The magnet structure thus automatically positions itself to maintain a force, through link IOI and arm 84, of 340 lbs. to hold the roller against rotation.

The instant the pull of the magnet I00 on the armature IOI is neutralized due to the circuit conditions, the downward pull of 340 lbs. on the arm 84 is released and the pull of the spring I80 is immediately released to roll the roller 83 out of the notch and to effect disengagement of the contacts as shown in Figure 10.

The complete operation of this clutch and the manner in which it is reset may be more fully understood from a description of the circuit breaker as a whole.

In Figures 1, 3 and 6, I have shown a circuit breaker having generally the construction and operation shown in Patent No. 2,150,566 to William M. Scott, Jr., and assigned to the assignee of the present application in which the holding magnet of the type shown in application Serial No. 452,613, filed January 3, 1941, is incorporated.

Current enters through the upper back connection stud (Figure 1) then flows through the bus connection 2| and blow out coil 22 to the upper main stationary contact carrying block 23 which is secured to the blow out structure nousing 3I by cap screws 25.

A stationary arcing contact 26, which is preferably L-shaped, is secured by means of the bolts to the upper surface of the main contact carrying block.

This component force may be made roller 83 has already been described.

Current reaching the upper stationary contact carrying block 23 passes through the stationary arcing contact element 26 to the movable arcing contact element 32 mounted on the movable contact 33 which, in turn, is mounted on the main movable contact carrying arm 34.

Current also flows from the stationary contact block 23 to the main stationary contact element 35, thence to the main movable contact element 36 mounted on the movable contact block 37, which also is mounted on the main movable contact carrying arm 34.

Main movable contact arm 34 is pivotally mounted on the pivot shaft 40 which is carried by the conductive supporting elements 4|. The conductive supporting elements 4| are in turn secured by the bolts 42 to the lower main stationary contact carrying block 43. An appropriate current carrying connection between the main movable contact and the conductive supporting elements 4| and thus to the bus connection 43 is obtained by the pigtail 45; and an ap-,

propriate current carrying connection between the main contact and the arcing contact is obtained by the pigtail 46.

Current from the lower main stationary contact carrying block 43 is divided so that a portion thereof flows through the bucking bar 5% which is connected to the lower main stationary contact carrying block d3 by the bolts 5 I.

The bucking bar passes through the magnet I00 and the magnet housing 80 in the manner hereinafter described and is, by means of a bolt 53, secured to the upper end of conductor 54.

The lower end of the lower main stationary contact carrying block 43 is by means of a bolt (Figure 1) in current carrying engagement with the conductor 58 which, in turn, is connected to the conductor 54 by the bolt 51. Current is then led from the conductor 54 through the back connection stud suitably insulated from stud 20.

Consequently, when the contacts are in the closed circuit positions of Figures 1 and 3, current flows from the upper back connection stud 20 through the main and arcing contacts and then divides to flow through the bucking bar 50 and the lower conductor 55 to the lower back connection stud 60.

The lower conductor 56 may be surrounded by iron laminations 58 to provide a by-pass for the current passing through the bucking bar 50 providing a rate of current rise response for the mag net as more fully set forth in Patent No. 2,092,592 of William M. Scott, J12, assigned to the assignee of the present application.

The main principles of my present invention and the manner in which it is embodied in my novel circuit breaker are shown s hermetically in Figures 8, 9, 10 and 11, and a preliminary description of the schematic illustrations will simplify the description of the actual physical embodiment. The principle of operation of the clutch The exact relationship of the clutch to the remainder of the mechanism will now be set forth.

In the schematic illustration of Figure 8, the elements of the circuit breaker are shown in the closed circuit position. The arcing contacts 25 and 32 correspond exactly to the arcing contacts 26 and 32 of Figures 3 and 6. The'main contact elements 35 and 35 of Figures 8 correspond exactly to the similarly numbered contacts of Figures 1, 6, and 3.

The movable arcing contact 32 and the movable 7 main contact36 are mounted on thecontact carrying arm 34 which is pivoted on pin 40.

Still referring to Figure 8, the link H is pivotally-connected at H to the contact carrying arm 34 and at its opposite end is connected to the spring H30.

Spring I00 exerts a biasing force on link H0 tending to pull it to the right and, therefore, exerts a clockwise bias on the contact carrying arm 34, thus tending to open the contact members. This opening bias on the part of spring 580 is resisted by means of link l also pivotally connected at one end to the pin H and at the opposite end pivotally connected to the pin '57 of the lower clutch member it.

The lower clutch member TB is mounted in a manner hereinafter described so that it may slide longitudinally from the position shown in Figure 8 within the housing 20 to the position shown in Figure still within the housing.

When the lower clutch member '58 is released from the engagement with other elements of the clutch, hereinafter described, then no further resistance will be orercd to the bias of the spring 180, and the spring ma 7 then move the clutch element 7& from the position of Figure 8 to the position of Figure 10, thus moving the movable contacts in the manner shown.

The lower clutch element is is provided with a detent 82 of substantially rectangular cross section in which mounted the roller An upper clutch arm 84 is pivotally mounted within the housing on the pin and likewise provided with a detent 85 which engages the upper portion of the roller 23.

As long as the upper pivotal arm 84 is held down in the position shown in Figure 8, then the interengagement of these arms 30 and '53, by reason of the roller resting in the comple i cletents, prevents the longitudinal mov the roller 33, and clutch member '58, and hence prevents the spring iSS from being effective to separate the contacts.

When the holding force applied to the upper pivotal arm 84 is released, then the bias of spring ISO will be effective to produce the results-shown in Figures 9 and 10; that is, first the roller 83 will be rolled out of the complementary detent-s 8'3 and 33 onto the surfaces of the members "a8 and 84, thus causing the clutch arm 30 to rise; and then as the roller is completely freed from the detents by this operation, the spring '12 is permitted to be eifective to move the elements further from the position shown in Figure 9 through to the position shown in Figure 10 where the contacts are open.

I have found that by this arrangement a holding force of less than 01 the opening bias need be used to maintain the circuit breaker closed.

Thus, while the downward pull applied to the arm 84 is of the order of 340 pounds, it will safely retain the contacts in the closed position even though the opening bias of the spring 80 is of the order of 5000 pounds.

In actual practice, I have found that this 5000 pound opening force may be resisted by the 340 pound holding force where the lower clutch members have a cross section of inch by 1%; inches and where the roller has a diameter of 0.280 inch. The actual embodiment of the clutch elements is shown in the perspective view of Figure 7 where the size thereof has been exaggerated; while the drawing of Figure 1 shows the elements reduced in scale.

It will be seen from an examination of Figures 14; and 15 that the upper surface of the clutch member 18 to the right of the detent is lower than the surface 9:; while the upper pivoted member 84 of the clutch has a larger downward extension 93 beyond the detent. The extension 03, thus defining the outer wall of the detent 86, extends below a horizontal diameter of the roller .83. The left hand side of the detent 32 in the lower member '18 extends above the same horizontal diameter 0f the roller on the other side thereof.

Assuming that little or no force is applied to hold the arm 8 down while the full opening bias of spring is effective on the lower member 18, and assuming that the arm 82 is freely rotatable upwardly around the pin 85, it will be obvious that the successive results shown in Figures 8, 9 and 10 will occur; that is, the roller will roll up the left hand side of detent and down the right hand side of detent 85 in response to the longitudinal pull on the member .8 in the manner previously explained.

But, when a downward pull is exerted on the upper clutch arm 34, the pull on member 18 is transmitted from the left hand side of the detent to the roller 83 and from the roller 83 to the right hand side of detent 36; and since the right hand side of the detent $6 is substantially tangential to an imaginary circle drawn about the shaft 05 as a center, and since the pull is thus normal to the initial direction of movement of the arm 84, a relatively small force is all that is necessary to restrain the arm 84 from rising despite the fact that a relatively greatforce is exerted on the member 18.

However, and this has been demonstrated by the fact that, in an actual commercial embodiment of my invention the holding force which holds down the arm 84 exerts less than onetwelfth the pull exerted by spring 186 (3&0 lbs. to 5000 lbs), when the holding force is released from the arm 84 the successive results shown in Figures 9 and 10 occur.

As may be seen in the enlarged views of Figures 14 and 15, the faces of the detents which engage the roller 83 are ground at an outward angle 0 of the order of one degree in order to create a positive component force that will tend to push the clutch members apart.

Circuit breakers thus constructed have withstood successive practical and commercial interrupting testsat high speed. As a matter of fact, from an oscillograph it has been determined that the contacts are fully separated by cycle and that the time from the occurrence of overcurrent conditions to current zero is 0.7 of a 60 cycle wave.

The releasable holding force which is utilized to hold down the pivotal arm 84 is the magnet I80 and the armature llll. The springs which in turn hold down the magnet ensure engagement of the clutch members. Armature I0! is connected by means of link H12 to the pivotal arm 84; and when the said armature is in engagement with the face of the magnet 100, as shown in Figure 8, the upper pivotal arm 84 of the clutch is held down by the magnet and hence by the magnet springs and the circuit breaker is either in closed position or ready to close.

In Figures 14 and 15, I have shown greatly enlarged views of the clutch mechanism of Figure 12, showing the relationship of the forces involved. Where the clutch member 18 bears against roller 83 at point 3/ at an angle 0 of 1 from the horizontal, then the tangential rotative component is sin 1 times 5000 or 87.25 lbs. The

tangential rotative component at point a: is likewise 87.25 lbs. and clutch member 84 must be held down with a force of more than174.5 lbs., since the clutch member 18 is restrained from downward movement by the roller 232, and thus adds its component force to the upper clutch member 84 at point :r, it thereby gives an upward force at A of 174.5 lbs. The spring I09 holding down magnet I90 exerts a force B due to various leverages of 340 lbs. which is sufficient to counteract the opening component A of 174.5 lbs.

In order that the downward force B of spring I09 should not separate magnet I from armature IOI, the magnet I00 is arranged to exert a holding force C of 420 lbs. on the armature, which force is thus greater than the force B. Force C is the releasable force, since on the occurrence of predetermined conditions, C will drop to less than 174.5 lbs. and will permit the clutch elements to separate.

The magnet I00 and the armature I 0| may be constructed exactly as shown in Patent No. 2,412 247, filed July 28, 1942, assigned to the assignee hereof.

The magnet I00 which is energized by the shunt coil I03 also has a bucking bar 53 which will counteract the effect of the shunt coil on the occurrence of a reverse current, and will thus release the armature exactly in the manner described in the aforesaid application.

The magnet I0!) is mounted in the housing 8t and the upper portion 84 of the clutch, the armature IUI, and the magnet I00 and all its associated parts are movable with the housing 35!. The bucking bar 50 passes through the magnet Ioil below the housing 80 so as not to interfere with the operations hereinafter described.

When the circuit breaker has tripped so that the elements are moved from the position of Figure 8 to the position of Figure 10, it is necessary to reset the clutch in order to re-engage the same so that the circuit breaker may close. For this purpose, the housing as a whole is moved from the position of Figure 10 to the position of Figure 11 wherein the contacts are still open, but the circuit breaker is prepared for a closing operation.

The housing an carries a link III! which is pivotally secured at III to the upper end of the lever H2. Lever I I2 is pivotally mounted on the pin H3, and at its lower end is pivotally connected by means of the pin H4 to link H5, which in turn is in toggle relation with the link Link I I6 is pivoted on pin I 24 and is provided with an integral extension I I! which is pivotally connected at I20 to the link I2I, which in turn is pivotally connected to the'solenoid armature I23.

The end I27 of handle socket H8 opposite the shaft I24 is provided with a socket to receive a handle so that the breaker may be manually operated and adjusted.

It will now be clear that when the handle is inserted in the end I2! of handle socket H8 (when the members are in the position shown in Figure 13) and rotated in a counterclockwise direction, links H6 and H will move from the position shown in Figure to the toggle position shown in Figure 11.

Lever H2 will thereby be rotated in a clockwise direction, thus pulling the housing 83, through the link Hn, toward the right from the position shown in Figure 10 to the position shown in Figure 11. This is made possible by reason of the fact that the housing is floatingly supported-one end thereof being supported by the extension HE} carried by the pivots III at the top of the opposite levers H2-the opposite end thereof carrying a pin I33 on which is pivotally mounted on opposite sides the links I3I which are in turn pivotally mounted on stationary pins I32, I32.

The link or support I3I may rock about shaft I32 from the position of Figure 10 to the position of Figure 11 and then back again to the position of Figure 8 as shown in the schematic views of Figures 8 to 11.

Thus, when the lever I I2 is rotated in a clockwise direction, the housing 80 as a whole moves to the right.

The center line distance from the fulcrum H3 of the lever H2 to the supporting pin III thereof is equal to the length of the pin centers of link I3I so that these members will rock simultaneously and define at all times two sides of a parallelogram; the housing 83 may, therefore, not only be moved longitudinally but also be rocked upwardly during a portion of its movement.

Thus, when the housing 80 moves from the position of Figure 10 to the positon of Figure 11, means hereinafter shown are provided which lift the magnet IIJEJ. The magnet IIJI! during this movement is thus brought up to the armature IOI and engages the same, so that at the completion of the movement from Figure 10 to Figure 11, the clutch is reset and the armature IOI reengaged with the magnet IUI'I.

Thus, when the handle, inserted in the socket end I21 of the handle socket I I8, is rotated clockwise from the position of Figure 11 to the position of Figure 8, the entire housing so with the clutch therein in engaged position is moved to the left and thus pulls the movable contact members from open to closed position against the bias of the spring I80.

The links H5 and H5 in the course of such closing movement move over center so that the opening bias of the spring will be ineffective to collapse them to the position shown in Figure 11.

As is also obvious, the link H6 may be rocked from the position of Figure 11 to the position of Figure 8 by means of a solenoid armature I23 which pulls on the link I2I to pull the extension HI clockwise and thus rotate the link I I6 which is integral with the extension in the clockwise position from the position of Figure 11 to the position of Figure 8.

. The physical embodiment of the elements thus described will now be clear from an inspection of Figures 1 to 7.

Referring again to Figures 1, 3, and 6, the link III, between contact arm 34 and spring I80, is a compound adjustable member having an additional element IIll which is threaded into the end of link "I'll, and the opposite end of which is also threaded at III to receive an adjusting nut I12 which maintains the plunger H3 in suitably ad usted position.

The spring contained within the housing 12 is a compound compression spring consisting of a plurality of outer turns of aheavy spring I80 whichbears at the left hand end against the inner annular surface of the housing 12 and which at its right end bears against the periphery of the plunger I13.

In order quickly to initiate an are, extremely high initial acceleration is necessary. To this end, initial acceleration at very high rate is largely produced by the heavy powerful spring 11 I80 which is pre-stressed or .maintained under substantial compression even with the circuit breaker in the open position.

Since the force of spring I80 is largely dependent upon its pre-stressed condition for the high initial rate of acceleration, it is effective only during the first part of the opening movement of the bridging member.

To this end, as shown in Patent No. 2,150,566 of William M. Scott, Jr., the plunger H3 has a plurality of arms which register with a spider I'M held in position against the housing I2 by the bolts I15. The arms of the plunger I13 are thus acted upon by the heavy spring I80, until they pass through the interleaving portions of the spider plate I14, which latter members then take the stress of spring I80.

Preferably, the spring I89 is effective until all of the upper contact surfaces are separate from their associated surfaces.

During the remaining opening movement, the lighter spring IBI, which is compressed between the annular interior I85 of the housing I2 and the face of the plunger I13, passes through the central opening in the spider plate I'M and continues to press against the plunger to ensure a high speed full opening movement of the circuit breaker.

Due to the high speeds involved and the resultant magnitude of the kinetic energy. it is desirable to decelerate the movable structure, as the fully open position is obtained by means of an energy absorber and dissipator. This energy absorber is preferably the type in Patent No. 2,137,001 of George A. Healis and in the abovementioned Patent No. 2,150,566 of William M. Scott, Jr.

Briefly, the movable contact arm 34 is provided with impact members Ian, preferably of hardened steel, arranged to engage an inclined surface IQI of a brake-block I92. The brakeblock I82 is provided with friction surfaces I93 and I 9% along the upper and lower horizontal surfaces thereof and with a recess I95 to receive an end of the compression spring I96.

A crank arm is pivotally mounted on the frame at 2!. One arm 292 thereof is engaged by the opposite end of compression spring I96; while the opposite end 2% of the crank arm bears against a brake shoe 265 which cooperates with the friction surface I93.

As the impact members I98 engage the inclined surface I9I, a component of force. is effective to press the brake-block 92 firmly against an upper surface 2H3 of the housing. As the block is displaced to the right, the pring I96 is compressed, and applies through the crank arm 2% a rapidly increasing force upon the brake-shoe and the friction surfaces I93 and I94.

In this manner, the kinetic energy of the moving parts is ouickly absorbed and rapidly d ssipated to prevent rebound of the moving contact arm and to eliminate damaging shocks and hammer blows to the parts of the circuit breaker.

Additional energy absorbing means may be provided as the particular commercial application of the circuit breaker may dictate.

The link I! carried by the contact carrying arm is also provided with th extension I5. This extension is provided with a threaded socket into which the additional link I5 is inserted.

Link 75 passes through opening 220 in the housing 89 and, as shown in Fi ures 7 and 13. is rotatably mounted on the pin I1 carried in the bearings 22!, 22I of the lower clutch member I8.

The clutch member I8 of Figures 1, 3, 6, and especially 7, is provided with the detent 82 which cooperate with the roller 83 and which in turn cooperates with the detent 86 in the upper pivoted clutch member which in turn is pivoted on the shaft 85.

As will further be seen from Figures 7, 9 and 10, the roller 83 is retained in position, so that it may freely move to the various tripped and closing positions without moving out of engagement with the other clutch elements, by means of the slots 222 in opposite side of the housing 80. These slots 222 are sloped and shaped so that the roller 83 may move to all of the positions shown in Figures 8 to 11, although it is restricted against any other movement. Slots 222 are also sloped so as to guide the roller to the appropriate rcset position of Figure 11 when the housing 86 is moved from the position of Figure 10 to the position of Figure 11.

As is obvious from Figure 7, the upper portion of the housing 80 is provided with a recess 23!) on each side of a plane surface 21H on which clutch member I8 rests. A roller 232 is mounted in each recess 236 to provide a relatively frictionless glide for the lower clutch member 18. The left hand end of the lower clutch member 18 (with respect to Figure '7) is bifurcated to reduce its weight and allow it to clear the connecting link I02 The machined side walls 344, 354' of the housing 80 keep the clutch member 18 in proper alignment so that the detent 82 is always parallel to the roller 83.

The alignment of the detent 83 of the upper pivotal member 84 is assured by reason of the mounting of that member on the continuous shaft 85.

The surface 23I of housing is provided with a hole 2 53 through which passes the link I02 (Figures 3 and 6) that connects the pivotal member G l of the clutch and the armature Hi.

The upper end of link I52 passes through the opening 262 in the upper pivotal member 84 of the clutch and is held in position by pin 2% which passes through a horizontal opening in the upper end of link H32 and is frozen therein. The lower end of link W2 is bifurcated at 245 which, by means of a pin 246, is secured to the upwardly extending lugs 24? and 248 of the armature Ifil (Figure 4a) and also to the biasing arm 249 of the armature (hereinafter described) The members 241, 248 and 233 are secured to the armature in any uitable manner, preferably by welding. The armature has the shape and operation previously described in connection with Patent No. 2,412,247, above mentioned, and is held by a magnet also of the type previously described.

The magnet IE9 is provided with the independently energized shunt coil 103 which creates the initial bias thereon to attract and hold the armature IOI. The flux generated by the shunt coil I93 energizes the magnet by means of the pole pieces I03 also in the manner described in the above mentioned application.

It will now be obvious that the distance from the upper surface of clutch member M, where the armature link I62 engages it, to the pole face of the magnet um, where the armature IflI enages the pole face, is critical. That is to say,

when holding magnet I96 is energized and is holding the armature IIlI aga nst its pole face, the length of the armature II]! and the link I02 should be such that the upper clutch member 34 makes the exact necessary engagement with the roller in a straight line. In practice, we have found that the precision machinery necessary to secure this result is extremely difficult.

Accordingly, the magnet is in effect fioatingly supported in order to take up any minute machine inaccuracies and to ensure good clutch engagement. To this end, the magnet is pivotally supported at one end in the housing 80. The opposite end of the magnet I is supported by means of the studs 286, 286 the upper ends of which are secured to the housing 00 by the abutments 281, 281 and the lower ends of which are fastened to the abutments 280, 280 which are attached to the surface of the magnet structure. The spring. I09 between the abutment 281 and abutment 280 thus exerts a push of '75 lbs. tending to rotate the magnet I00 clockwise about its pivot I30 as seen in Figure 1. The magnet I00 tates the bell crank lever in a clockwise direction. The lower arm 213 of the bell crank lever is provided with an adjustable screw abutment 215 and its armature IOI, under the action, of this spring I09, and the varlous leverages brin the clutch members into engagement with a force of 340 lbs. as determined and ensured by the spring I09. The above conditions exist on both sides of the magnet I00 but the force of 340 lbs. is the resultant force of both springs I09, I09 and the various leverages involved.

When the circuit breaker parts move from the closed circuit position of Figures 1 and 3 to the open circuit position shown schematically in Figure 10, the clutch member is disengaged as shown schematically in Figure 10.

The handle may then be inserted in the socket I27 to rotate the link I I 0 from the position shown in the schematic view of Figure 10 and the position shown in Figure 3 to the position shown in Figure 6. This rotation of link II6 causes the lever H2 to rotate in the manner previously described in connection with the schematic view, and thus through the, connector H0 causes the magnet and armature housing to swing over toward the right on the pivotally mounted link I 3!.

As shown in Figure l, the lever I I2 is connected to link I I0 by means of a short clevis 260. Clevis 260 is pivotally mounted on the pin III carried by lever I I2 and is provided at its left hand end with a threaded socket in which the connector I0 may be screwed and tightened therein by means of a nut 26L The left hand end of the connector IIO may be likewise threaded into an opening 262 (Figure 2) in a lug 263 extending from the side of the housing 80.

Th shaft I24 on which the link I I6 is mounted passes laterally through the circuit breaker elements and is keyed to a link similar to the link I I6 on the opposite side.

The handle socket element IIB need only be provided on one side, since only one handle is necessary for operation. The link H6 on each side is rigidly secured to shaft I24 by means of a key 265 which register in matching keyways.

When the circuit breaker moves from the closed circuit position shown in Figure 3 to the tripped position of Figure 10, it is necessary not only to reengage the clutch, but to cause the armature I0! to reengage the surface of the magnet I00. For this purpose, the magnet I00 must be brought up to the armature I0 I.

This operation is obtained by means of the bell crank lever 210 (Figure 1) rotatably mounted at 21! on the conductor 43.

Bell crank lever 210 has an upper arm 212 which is interposed in the path of the lug 263 on the side of the housing 80. When the housing is pulled toward the right during the resetting operation, the lug 263 strikes the arm 212 and rowhich may be threaded through the end of the lower arm 273 and locked in place by the lock nut 216, the abutment being arranged to engage the lower surfaces of pole pieces I03.

Consequently, when, by reason of the motion of the housing toward the right, the bell crank lever 210 is rotated in a clockwise direction, the abutment 215 on the lower end 213 thereof is raised against the pole pieces I03 of the magnet I00 and lifts the magnet I00 to engage with the armature IN.

The adjustabl screw abutment 215 is so arranged that this raising action of the magnet I00 will occur when the roller 63 and detent 86 of the pivotally mounted member 04 of the clutch move opposite the detent 82 in the lower member II! of the clutch; it being remembered" that the lower member I3 is stationary during the motion of the housing 80 toward the right.

When these elements thus move into registry, the roller 83 can drop into complementary registry with the detents 82 and 86, and the housing 80 and its magnet I00 can be raised into contact with the armature NH.

The magnet I00 is pivotally suspended from the pin I30 which passes through the bearing block I3'. I3'I which in turn, are rigidly attached, by any suitable means, such as cap screws I38, to the magnet pole pieces I03'I03. A vertical compression spring I09 guided by stud 286 is mounted between abutment 281 of the housing 80 and abutment 280 of the magnet I00. This spring I09 exerts sufiicient force normally to hold the clutch member 04 down when the circuit breaker is closed; and thus may, as a safety factor, exert even more than 340 lbs. downward force. This does not interfere with the release of the armature IOI to permit tripping; but the spring I09 may b readily compressed, as above described, to raise the magnet I00 to engage the armature IIII preliminary to a reclosing of the circuit breaker.

As has previously been pointed out, in addition to the manual closing means, a solenoid closing means may be utilized which comprises the solenoid armature I23 actuated by the coil 290.

Thus, when the members have been reset in the position shown in Figure 6, the coil 290 may be energized to pull the armature I23 toward the right and close the circuit breaker in the manner previously described in connection with the schematic illustrations.

The circuit breaker is also arranged so that it may readily be manually tripped. This operation will be clear from an examination of Figures 1, 4a, 5, and 5a.

The base 300 of the circuit breaker is provided with appropriate bearings 30| and 302 to rotatably retain the longitudinal shaft 304.

The'front end of shaft 304 is provided with a handle 305 which is rotatably mounted on the extension of the shaft 304 outside of the housing.

A lug 306 is keyed to the shaft 304 in any suitable manner, and a screw 30! is threaded through the handle and engages against one surface of the lug 306.

Rotation of handle 305 in a direction to bring screw 30'! against lug 306 will rotate shaft 304; rotation of the handle in an opposite direction will have no effect.

The shaft 304 is provided with an eccentric crank element 3I0 which passes through an 

